Trapezuntius: Compendium grammaticae

Trapezuntius’s work was made in the early 1430s in Venice, mainly based upon the grammar book of Roman theorist Priscianus (5–6th century). It was a good idea to design this handbook as the examples of Priscianus’s work included selected Classical Latin authors to transmit the purest Latin grammar and style, and Trapezuntius built that content in a catechism-like structure for easy study and teaching.
The manuscript was probably copied in Johannes Vitez’s environment in 1470, but the scribe recorded only the year at the end of the codex. The decoration was made by the “First Heraldic Painter” already in the royal workshop. The working method of the lesser master is well detectable in the manuscript. In addition to his own tools, we can discover the influence of Attavante degli Attavanti, similarly to his otherworks, but in the figures (hair and posture) of the two putti holding the coat of arms, we can recognize the putti of the Regiomontanus Corvina illuminated by Francesco Rosselli.
The notes in red ink originate from a later owner, Johannes Gremper, humanist of Vienna. He highlighted the following simile on the title-page: “If the workers of the land do not sow the seeds with caution and cultivate the land with wit, they shall weep at the time of harvest. Similarly, if a child’s uncultivated spirit does not understand the rules of grammar and the excellent authors, when he comes to age, he shall only harvest the fruits of ignorance”. (Edina Zsupán)

Source: The Corvina Library and the Buda Worskhop: [National Széchényi Library, November 6, 2018 –February 9, 2019] A Guide to the Exhibition; introduction and summary tables: Edina Zsupán; object descriptions: Edina Zsupán, Ferenc Földesi; English translation: Ágnes Latorre, Budapest: NSZL, 2018, p. 204

DATA SHEET

Shelfmark: Cod. Lat. 428.
Country: Hungary
City: Budapest
Keeper location: National Széchényi Library
Author: Georgius Trapezuntius
Content: Compendium Grammaticae
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: 42 fol.
Sheet size: 298 × 196 mm
Place of writing: Hungary (Buda?, Esztergom?)
Date of writing: Dated: 1470 (f. 42r)
Scriptor: From the same scriptor
Illuminator: "first" heraldic painter
Place of illumination: Buda
Date of illumination: late 1480s
Crest: King Matthias' Hungarian and Bohemian royal coat-of-arms, "first" heraldic painter, Buda, late 1480s
Possessor, provenience: Johannes Fabri (comp. the printed and manuscript bookplates in the codex)
Binding: original gilded leather corvina binding; gauffered, gilded edge (probably in the late 1480s)
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: Not restored
Hungarian translation(s) of work(s) included in the corvina: None